1/1/2009

It was a beautifully clear, sunny day today, so I went for a walk around town. One of the reasons was to take some pictures. I seldom take many pictures of the places where I live; I want to make sure I have some of Linköping.

I set off up Vasavägen, past the Länsmuseum (which I’ve still never been inside) to the cathedral. It looked beautiful in the low sunshine but it was tricky to find an angle where there weren’t too many trees in the way. I like the way the steeple looks against the sky in this photo.

From the cathedral I walked on to Trädgårdsföreningen, one of the bigger parks in the city. I was hoping it would be lit nicely, but I’d spent too long in bed today and the sun had disappeared behind buildings. I had to content myself with climbing up the hill to the Belvedere, which was still in sunlight. Unfortunately the ground around it was strewn with the rubbish from last night’s celebrations: broken glass, cigarette ends and spent fireworks.

Just outside the park I noticed that the brutal chimney structure of the University Hospital’s boiler house looked interesting against the sky. I’ll have to try again when the sun is shining on the glass side. On that edge of the park is the Linköping beekeepers’ society, complete with a little sign warning pedestrian of the danger.

A few hundred meters away is another, smaller, green space in the city. The Tinnerbäck, a small stream (“bäck” means the same as “beck” in English) that fills the open-air swimming pool, flows over a small waterfall beside the new cycle bridge.

Then I walked down, through Hejdegården to the river Stångå (or should it be the river Stång? “å” means small river). Ducks were feeding on a small patch of ice where the Tinnerbäck flows into the river, or at least they were until someone started feeding them further downstream. Northwest along the river from here you can see the Drottningsbron (which used to open to allow shipping acces to Linköping’s harbour) and the district heating plant.

I finished off by continuing along the bank of the river to where the harbour used to be, now an industrial area that the local authorities are planning to raze and replace with a new travel centre. Here’s one final picture, the district heating plant that keeps my house warm and gives me huge amounts of lovely hot water.

If you have Google Earth installed on your computer you can follow the route using this file. I’d recommend turning on 3D buildings and setting “Show balloon when tour is paused” on the touring tab of the options (“Tools” menu, “Options…” on Windows).